Gender Inequality In Scotland

Despite being a dynamic country, bringing great European value, Scotland demonstrates clear social divisions. Consequently, this brings significant disadvantages for people in particular social groups, impacting the wider economy. This said, division can carry positives leading to a more diverse Scotland, however the division is majorly seen as negative. Low income and poverty are central factors showing the inequality in these groups, such being social class, gender, race, age and disability: key factors in determining this divide. In recent years there has been tangible effort from the Scottish government to narrow the gap, demonstrated in improved equality on the back of legislation and initiatives.

Although growing awareness to eradicate this division, recent statistics show women in Scottish society are overall in a more disadvantaged position than men, especially in terms with employment. In 2014, the gender pay gap stood at 11.5% (Close the Gap, 2014). Although the governmental measure of ‘The Equal pay Act 1970’ made it illegal for a women to be paid less than a man for the same value of work, and the Scottish pay gap of 5.8% in 2011 was brought down from 7.4% in 2010 (gov. scot, 2013), it still hasn’t been close to being eradicated. Both male and female workers in the same job are getting different pay, for example the weekly gross earning of full time for managers and senior officials in 2012 was £767.10 for men and £592.30 for women (ASHE cited by Mckendrick, 2014 p104). This higher chance of being on a low income for women, means a higher risk of being in poverty: of the 5 million workers of all ages living in poverty, 66% were women (Mooney 2014 p9). Occupational segregation is evident as more women than men are in a lower paid job which can be due to discrimination and also intimidation from a job, seen as male dominated. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975, making it an unauthorised action to discriminate against a member of the opposite sex, treating them differently,

Diversity in a Scottish society should be embraced, as a multiracial and multicultural society can bring benefits of new various skills and multiplicity. However, discrimination is still a common issue amongst ethnic minority groups, with consequences of a greater risk of being in poverty. Many ethnic minority groups are in low-paid jobs: this may be from language barriers, not having the required skills, however discrimination is the crucial issue. On certain jobs, equality in race is hard to acknowledge, for example only 1% of Police Scotland’s 17,295 officers are from minority backgrounds (Martin, 2015). This exclusion has led to some minority groups to create voluntarily separate welfare services to better meet their needs (Alcock and May 2014 p280). Growing concern from the government is evident: The Race Relations Act 1976, has been tightened, which makes racial discrimination illegal in terms of employment, education and training along with the ability to access services, good and activities. There has also being closer interaction with Scottish police forces and Scottish court service in order to deal with the issue of racist crime (gov scot 2004). However, low income and poverty is still prevalent for this social group: around two-fifths of people from ethnic minorities live in income poverty, twice the rate for white people (Palmer,